CES Unveiled Paris Offers Sneak Peek Into CES 2018 Lineup

The 5th annual CES Unveiled Paris offered a glimpse into what visitors and exhibitors can expect to find at CES 2018 in Las Vegas.

The CES Unveiled events abroad are designed to offer insight into trends and technologies leading up to the big show. CES Unveiled Paris this year provided a place for 74 local companies to showcase their goods to top media, industry affiliates, buyers and investors.

According to Consumer Technology Association president and CEO Gary Shapiro, the CES Unveiled events abroad “definitely promote CES, the ‘mother show,’ as they are appetizers for the main event. But they also are events in their own right. They help us to build relationships.”

Cyber Security

During the presentation in Paris, Steve Koenig, CTA’s senior director of market research, shared a few of the tech trends visitors will discover on the show floor in January. These include 5G New Radio (NR), with its possible use in telecommunications, healthcare and the industrial and automotive sectors.

Other important themes will include artificial intelligence and its applications in across various technologies, including medical, educational and automotive; robotics in the consumer market; and augmented reality and virtual reality. “‘AR Gets Real’ will be the real narrative at CES when we talk about AR moving to B to C,” said Koenig. “We’ll see a tidal wave of AR applications.”

As regards the notable issue of cyber security, Shapiro said CES would have a cyber security marketplace and a few sessions on the topic. “There are very advanced solutions and one is facial recognition. Two-level authentication is another one. A lot of these problems require many solutions. They also need industries, governments and citizens to be careful.”

The annual CES gathering in Las Vegas generally attracts about a third of its attendees from outside the United States. Audited attendance figures show that for the 2017 event, 60,000 out of 180,000 attendees (visitors and exhibitors) were non-Americans, and that they came from 158 different countries.

The 2018 show will welcome 650 first-time exhibitors, many of which the CTA said are not traditionally from the tech industry. “In 2017 the organization saw different industries coming to CES in a different way — these included Carnival cruises and Under Armour,” said Shapiro. The 2018 event, will also play host to some 3,900 exhibitors with more than 800 start-ups as well as more than 1,000 speakers and keynotes, including that of Intel CEO Brian Krzanich and Huawei Consumer Business Group CEO Richard Yu.

On Agenda

In addition, Karen Chupka, CTA senior VP, CES and corporate business strategy, described specific initiatives on tap for the 2018 show. A focus on Smart Cities will take place in the Westgate hotel, while the Design & Source Marketplace, featuring 800 companies showing product design and marketing strategies, will be held in the South Plaza of the LVCC. The Sports Zone, presented by Turner Broadcasting and located at the Sands, will highlight the business of tech and sports and how technology is playing in athletic performance.

Also, the AI zone in LVCC South Hall 2, will demonstrate how the technology can improve lives, while the C Space which gives entertainment and advertising communities a place to discuss how tech is changing their businesses, will take place in the Aria hotel.

Finally, CES’s start-up area Eureka Park will feature more than 800 exhibitors, increasing by a third over last year. France was the second biggest exhibitor in the start-up area in 2017, with 204 companies from the country participating.

CES 2018 will be held Jan. 9–12 in Las Vegas.

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